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“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

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The appearance of testimony by Prado Lima and his judicial allies in the distant<br />

Montevideo courts suggests that the importance of personal reputations and reciprocal ties<br />

did not stop at national borders. The integrated nature borderlands legalities ensured that<br />

declarations of property rights in one forum critically influenced substantive legal rights in<br />

others. For the numerous Brazilian ranchers residing across the border in the Estado<br />

Oriental in particular, the local legal struggles in Alegrete had the potential to shape their<br />

legal rights. Frequent warfare and continuing political instability had made property<br />

boundaries in the Uruguayan Republic even more blurred than in Brazil. Brazilian ranchers<br />

struggled, often with each other, to define their respective rights in Uruguay. In doing so,<br />

they equally looked to factional connections back in Brazil to win legal recognition for their<br />

claims. This opened further spaces for powerful figures like the Ribeiros and David<br />

Canabarro to use the courts to bolster their political alliances, personal reputations and<br />

reciprocal ties. From this perspective, it is not surprising to see Prado Lima active in<br />

property cases on both sides of the border. Securing judicial victories for political allies,<br />

even in tribunals as far away as Montevideo, cemented cross-border webs of reciprocal<br />

connections that could be subsequently deployed in local struggles.<br />

The prolonged dispute between Manoel de Almeida Lima and Manoel Rodrigues da<br />

Silva provides an example of how factional legal conflicts behind borders played a critical<br />

role in establishing substantive legal rights across the borderlands. 140 At the same time, it<br />

equally suggests how providing local justice to political allies in the borderlands could propel<br />

cross-border conflicts forward. Like many cases in the 1850s, the conflict between Lima and<br />

da Silva had its origins in the borderlands wars of the 1840s. Lima testified that in 1842 he<br />

























































<br />

140 Manoel de Almeida Lima c. Manoel Rodrigues da Silva, APRGS. Alegrete. Cartório Civil e<br />

Crime. Ações Ordinarias, Maço 35, No. 848 (1855).<br />


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